Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, House Oversight Committee chair, told the White House Thursday he has evidence the president downplayed his involvement in the botched Obamacare rollout, and demanded more information on withheld documents.
Rep. Darrell Issa said in a letter to White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, obtained by Fox News and delivered Thursday, that the House Oversight Committee already has documents indicating senior White House officials and the President were far more involved in the HealthCare.gov debacle than they’ve let on.
He said in the letter the assertion is based on more than 8,000 pages of documents turned over by the Department of Health and Human Services. But the White House and HHS are refusing to release other documents, citing “executive branch institutional interests,” reports Fox News.
Issa demands to know how many and what type of documents the White House is withholding, and gives the Counsel until April 29 to respond in writing.
The White House responded to the letter in a statement: “There is nothing extraordinary about the fact that HHS has made a small number of redactions in the many thousands of pages of documents it has produced. Since the Affordable Care Act became law, this Administration has participated in 14 transcribed interviews, dozens of Committee briefings, 50 Congressional hearings, and produced more than 100,000 pages of documents.”
The letter could start a battle over executive privilege, Issa aides told Fox News, which the president has used in relation to Operation Fast and Furious. But advisers to the president noted other similar claims by Issa have proven fruitless.